Houghton Mathematics Professor Conducts Research at Brown University

Rebekah Yates, Ph.D., professor of mathematics at Houghton, received a prestigious grant to spend the first week of June with her fellow research collaborators at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics at Brown University, continuing her groundbreaking work on numerical ranges over finite fields.

Research group at Brown University in June 2025. From left to right: Dr. Doug Knowles, Dr. Rebekah Yates, Dr. Kristin Camenga, Dr. Patrick Rault

The REUF (Research Experience for Undergraduate Faculty) Continuation grant from the American Institute of Mathematics allowed Yates and her collaborators to meet in person to continue this research that began seven years ago on numerical ranges over finite fields. This research originated with a concept from Dr. Patrick Rault of Idaho State University and his then-undergraduate-student and now collaborator, Doug Knowles from Cornell University. Former Houghton professor, Dr. Kristin Camenga, also joined in the research. Along the way, the research has also extensively involved Houghton undergraduates, with multiple students from the mathematics research seminar contributing to the project, including Katelyn Cook ’19, Amy Huddell ’20, Aaron Monroe ’20, Joshua Bowman ’22 and Zachary McKay ’22. Two students have built their senior honors theses around this collaborative research.

“We published a paper on the geometry of finite field numerical ranges in 2021 and have run into several knotty (and thus exciting!) questions since then that we have been working on ever since and made more progress on this week,” Yates said. “This fall, I’m looking forward to working with Houghton students again on this research in Math Research Seminar.”

The research exemplifies Houghton’s commitment to academic excellence, providing undergraduates with opportunities to contribute to original mathematical research alongside faculty mentors.